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I know how redundant it can be to point out irony in politics. There are entire cable television shows built around exploiting the irony and hypocrisy that flows from the cornicpia of the absurd, Washington D.C. But every now and then a particularly absurd offering trickles from the swamp and I can’t help but point and laugh.

President Obama has been an effective catalyst for absurdity due to his image of freshness and hope in the media multiplied by his proclamations of what people wanted to hear. Sure, he meant to end these pointless wars, and he meant to save the economy and make everybody’s financial worries disappear forever, and he meant to reduce corruption in government, etc., etc.. To the politically cognizant the failure to actually achieve – or even attempt to appear to achieve – these lofty goals is far from ironic. The continued portrayal of change even as the wolf disrobes from his sheepskin robe isn’t even ironic. Irony is not found in the media, but in the details (a telling statement as to the state of the media, IMO).

The glow from Obama’s media-bestowed halo has dimmed a little and his sandals are taking on water after a stint of walking atop the water. To some, especially those who have been successfully disillusioned of the simplified-to-the-point-of-falsehood story of Lincoln found in indoctrination history texts, the endless comparisons of Obama to Lincoln could have foretold the eventual outcome. The best correlation between the two, so far in my book, is the link to slavery. No, I’m not talking of Obama’s blackness; I’m speaking about his push for “voluntary” national service, which would be required of all capable youths. Lincoln was known for his Emancipation Proclamation, fabled to have freed all the nation’s slaves (though, in reality he only freed those in the North), whereas Obama, elected partially because of white guilt over centuries of injustice to the black population – the most obvious being slavery – wishes to enslave (reads as “involuntary servitude” in the framework of this farcical government) the youth of the country. Obama is in no way the first to do this since the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment; every President who instituted the military draft has blazed the trail for him.

Jim Bovard has written an article highlighting the doublespeak of “service” as implemented by politicians. Like most things, it is not indicative of the entirety of volunteers or the effectiveness of all programs inside of AmeriCorps; rather, it is indicative of the taint that comes with all things political, especially the unearned money of government and the useless non-productive leeches attracted to it.

On a related note, here is a video of more irony as it relates to color and slavery (video here):